Public universities face serious financial crisis

Despite the worsening financial situation of public universities in Pakistan, the budget for the higher education sector of the country is only half of what the Higher Education Commission (HEC) had demanded from the education ministry for the year 2020, writes Kassim Abbasi for The Nation.

According to sources, the HEC demanded PKR158 billion (US$1 billion) from the Ministry of Education for the development and maintenance of universities, but the government has decided to allocate just PKR81 billion. The budget is even less than what was allocated in the previous year.

According to a document made available to The Nation, the University of Peshawar has informed the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa about its inability to pay salaries and pensions for January. The document states that the university is unable to pay salaries and pensions on 1 February 2020 due to the financial crunch and worsening situation of the university.
Full report on The Nation site